You are 1!!!

Dear Ryker,

Today you are one, and in many ways I can hardly believe that much time has passed.... but at the same time it doesn't seem nearly long enough! I cannot imagine our family without you. You have brought so much joy, hope, laughter and love to our tight knit family in one year's time. Hope is a big one. We are experiencing things with you that we never thought we'd be able to as parents. Don't get me wrong, we are so immensely proud of your sister and each and every one of her accomplishments, but there are some things we have had to face that she will probably never do. But we get to celebrate the things we will miss out on with her with you, and I cannot tell you what kind of joy that brings us. 

Here are a few of my favorite things about you at this age :) 

I love how happy you are every time you wake up and I come in to get you up. Your little smile radiates from your whole soul and lights up the whole room literally.... and it warms your mama's heart each time! I am so lucky! 

I love, love, love your curious nature! Even though it causes me a lot of anxiety (like when you try to go down the stairs or climb on top of things!). Your little mind never stops for one minute of the day! You are always trying to figure out something new, and I know you will be very smart because of this. I hope you never lose it! 

I love the way you brush my hair out of my face to look at me when I hold you, this is the sweetest thing, and it lets me know you love your mommy. 

I love when you hear a phone or small device making a noise, you immediately turn it to see it and light up when it is a video or picture. 

I love your crazy hair that I can never seem to keep tamed!

I love the sloppy open mouth kisses that you sometimes surprise me with, or give me when I ask :) But I love if I'm laying on the couch and you crawl over, pull up and plant one somewhere on my head or face, you always seem to catch me off guard and make me laugh, while causing my heart to burst all at the same time!

I love the crazy, expressive faces you make! Most especially your duck face!

I love the way you light up when you see someone you know! Whether it be me, your daddy, grandpa or grandma, or your cousins, you always make them feel very important, you are such a sweet boy!

I love how you light up when you see any young child, including pictures. You love to watch the digital picture frame and get especially excited when you see pictures of your sister, yourself, or your cousin, Adam. It was also fun to see you interact with Adam when he was here with your aunt for a visit. You two really played well together and it's easy to see how you guys will become best friends, too bad they live so far away :( But they're coming again in February, and you both should be walking by then, and I'm sure you both will give your mommies a run for the money while you're together! You also really love to look at yourself in the mirror, surprise, surprise ;) 

I love that you still love your nursing time with mommy.... even in light of mommy trying to wean you, you are making that very difficult because you love it so much. And to think about how worried I was your first few months of life and whether you would ever actually nurse :) 

I love your love of food! Even though you scream at me sometimes if I am not fast enough to get food to your mouth! I love that you will eat pretty much anything, even if it is clear that you don't really like it! I think you make most people laugh when you are eating, and you are always good entertainment for that! 

I love the clear love you have for your sister. It really warms my heart to see how excited you are to see her and play with her. Even when she is a little less than nice to you ;) You still love her unconditionally, no matter how many times she hits you, knocks you over or body slams you! 

I love the way you dance! It makes me laugh EVERY time! And you know it, so that is why you still do it I believe! 

I love how smart you are! You still find a way to amaze me each and every day with the things you pick up on so easily! You have around 8 words at this point and your comprehensive language is amazing! 

I too love your determined nature. When you see something you're after, there isn't much we can do to keep you from it! You will always find something that I try to hide, or find a way in a closed door. Trust me kid, use this determination in the right way, and you will go far in life! 

I love that you are a true momma's boy! And you are so much like your mommy it is scary at times ;) I hope you will always hold a special place for mommy in your heart! 

Now of course, just a few pictures of our squirt highlighting his first year :) 

I sure love you Ryker! So does your daddy, sister, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins and friends! You are one amazing little boy, and people can't help but love you when they meet you! We are so blessed to have you in our lives, and Happiest of Birthdays to you! And to many, many more!!

Love Always,

Mommy

A few of his stats:

Ryker weighs just under 19 lbs, so about 18 lbs 14 oz

He still doesn't have any teeth, and I'm not sure when they'll make an appearance!

He eats 3 solid meals a day, but still breastfeeds 4 times a day (trying to get that down to 3 though!)

Not walking yet, but standing on his own without holding onto anything, and cruising from furniture to furniture, with maybe a solitary step or two here and there, so I'm thinking walking will come in the next month or two. 

NO known food allergies, which is HUGE!! But, we will still probably get some standard testing done given his sister and daddy's history.

Size 3 diapers, clothing is mostly 9 months at this point, but some 12 month :) Shoe size 2, which is tiny I know, but he is still so much bigger than his sister was, so we are just fine with his size! 

He sleeps through the night, a consistent 12-13 hours, with 2 two hour naps during the day. 

He wears his clothes down to almost nothing with his crazy crawling and he is one fast little crawler! No more army crawling at all unless he is going under something he can't fit under on all fours. Sad about that a little because it was so stinking cute, but happy that I don't have to completely stain treat the entire fronts of his clothes, or throw them out anymore.... now it is just the legs :) 

Only one major illness still to report, which was mentioned in his last update post (hand, foot and mouth disease simultaneous with strep), but he has had quite a few colds. NO ear infections, which is quite miraculous again given his sister's history :)



There you have it! It's been one heck of a year! 

Em's 4/5 and No Hospitalization Celebration Event!

As you can see, I am slowly getting caught up on the blog.... this one backdated to June *YIKES* But bear with me, since it's not easy moving while very pregnant, and yes I am still battling the inevitable morning sickness.... but more like all day sickness in my case! And contracting off and on as well.... but life as we know it. And yes, I will still get to all the details of our move later on once I'm caught up with everything else that's still behind! 

So moving on.... 

Since Em didn't have a birthday party for her fourth birthday because of her second hip surgery, and we're not sure about giving her one this year for her fifth because we'll have a brand new baby and we're not sure about all the germs with RSV season, plus we'll still be a little chaotic with adjusting to 2, but Oh how wonderful all at the same time! We also realized we had never done anything to celebrate her going a year without an unplanned hospital stay, we figured we better do something BIG for it all! 

I have always been jealous of the mom's whose kids can have nice summer, outside parties! So if we celebrate on Em's half birthday, which is June 24, there you have it! I really wanted to reserve a pavilion at a park and get a big inflatable water slide and have a water party. But the park idea was out because they needed more notice and permits to get a bounce house rental. So Steve's parents offered their backyard, but that would limit the size we could get, so when contacting businesses about their rentals... none of them knew the dimensions of any of their rentals! Except one place that said they had them set up in their on site facility and I could come look at them anytime.... which is what we did when Steve got off work that day, and lo and behold, we just decided it would be best to pay the same amount for one rental and instead rent out their facility with ALL of their rentals! 

Turned out to be a BIG hit and I think all the kids and even adults that came had a lot of fun! We had two Chromosome 18 families join us.... the Harpers came all the way from Logan! And the Howe's came from Kaysville! We are so grateful that they all traveled so far to be part of this celebration, especially since it was in their honor as well! You see, we asked that instead of people bringing presents (since she really doesn't need anything these days), that people donate rather what they would have spent on a present, and that money was going straight to the Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society. We also included a little about a fellow Chromosome 18 mom Mandi Fisher who recently passed away unexpectedly from an aortic aneurysm, leaving behind her husband Jason and 2 (almost 3) year old daughter Kenzie who has that same crazy 18q- like Emarie. We thought it would be nice to honor her with our celebration as well and have the donations be as much for her as for Em since that is how her family wanted her honored as well. 

Of course Em had a few presents, because grandparents got to do both! But we told them the only thing they could get her was more furniture for her dollhouse, which is what you'll see her opening. Em was very good to put donations in the box herself and we were able to send $250 to the office later! Not bad!! 

Anyway, on with the good part.... the videos and pictures, which of course will be shown in slideshow form.... what else ;) 

Enjoy! 

Remember, 720 p and full screen for optimum viewing! 

And here's a picture of Em placing her donation checks in the mail at the post office, so cute! 

The rest of April...

*Play song, "First Day of My Life" with this post

Not too much to report in the last day of this month. I started working full days again after Spring Break, which was the 16th. I guess my reward was a horrible virus :P Started off with the worst sore throat I have ever had for the first 4 days, thought for sure it was strep and that Em was getting it too, but when I took us both in to be cultured, it was negative. Thankfully the doctor took pity on me and gave me a script for something he called a "miracle rinse", which consisted of 1 part Benadryl, 1 part Lidocaine and 1 part antacid. Nasty stuff, but it brought down the swelling in my throat and numbed it. After the sore throat cleared up, it was onto lovely chest congestion, sinus pain, runny nose and a wicked cough. I am on day 8 now, and I think Em is one day behind me. Still doesn't seem as though there's an end in sight, but I have heard from others that eventually it gets better. I really wouldn't wish this on anyone else, it has been awful and medicine hasn't helped much. I hate when people think it's good you didn't test for something bacterial.... but if it had been bacterial, I would have started on an antibiotic and would have gotten relief within 24 hours and probably would have been completely rid of it several days ago! 

Anyway, so that is mostly what has been going on, Em has been taking it much better than her poor mom! She is amazing.... hope you don't tire of me telling you that! 

Before the sickness mess began, we attended a birthday party for Diane's youngest (wonderful lady who watches Em), and another little girl, McKell that Diane also watches who we've known since she was born. Her mom actually use to be Em's PT when she was in PEEP. 

Here's a slideshow from the party

We have enjoyed some insane weather for April! A couple of days with temps in the 90's! Which in my opinion is way, way, way too hot for spring when there's no pools open! And it kind of stunk that the nicest days were when Em and I were home taking sick days :P

Being sick sometimes has it's perks. Been able to do some shopping online. Found this adorable swimsuit through another Ch18 mom....

 I love the vintage look! So wish I could find one similar for me that wasn't over $80!!

This one was $26.99 in case you were wondering.... but the biggest they go is 4T :( They are quite unique in that they snap at the bottom much like a onesie. Ideal for a child still in diapers (makes changing much easier), or a young girl who's recently potty trained (makes going much faster, and the swimsuit doesn't have to touch the dirty floor!). Also, since we're planning to hit the beach this summer when we're in Texas for the ch18 conference, we thought this one would be ideal when we need to hook our girl up to her feeding pump (that is always hard in traditional suits!). Now that I've done a complete advertisement for them ;) If you'd like one, you can go here.

And I finally got my first pair of Toms! Some for Em too :) 

Love how comfortable they are! And Em's look a little big because we got them the size she needs for when she wears her DAFOs (which is about 4 sizes bigger than her regular foot size!). We thought they would be nice for practicing walking because of how light and flexible they are! 

But not much else went on, kind of happens when you're sick though! Here's hoping May is much healthier! 

Four

*Play song, "Your the World to Me" (incorrectly named though, it's supposed to just be "World to Me") for this post

My baby turned four on Christmas Eve, which is just surreal to me. At times it's unbelievable for me to think that that much time has past, it seems like it was yesterday that I was holding my gorgeous girl in my arms for the first time.... Other times, I can't even remember what our lives were like before her.

Four is an age that will forever hold a special place in my heart. It is the age my sister will be etched in my memories until I see her again. It is also the age of children I have been working with and teaching for the last 7 or so years. It is a great age. One filled with wonder, excitement and imagination. I am so excited to see what this year will hold for my dear sweet angel! 

It has been quite the roller coaster ride these four years and sometimes I wonder how we survived it all with our sanity in tact...... well, mostly in tact ;) I love my girl more than I can describe and I am so grateful for her each and everyday. So, I only saw it right that we celebrate her in the way she deserves.... and for the first time ever on her actual birthday! Christmas Eve has always been filled with way too many things that it was impossible to do any sort of birthday festivities, which is why we defaulted to celebrating in January somewhere near the day she came home from the hospital which was the 22nd. One of the biggest things that usually happens on Christmas Eve is Steve's work Christmas party, which is always a movie.... and not a kids movie, so I always feel awful having someone babysit my girl on her birthday. But this year, since it was on a Saturday, they did the movie on Friday the 23rd, so we had most of the day open! Just breakfast and presents at Steve's parents in the morning (that's when we celebrated Christmas with them since that was the day that it worked best for everyone), and then the annual Wilde family Christmas Eve party that evening. So, actually it was pretty packed, but we knew we could make it work! 

After we were done with present opening at the Peters', we had a special package for Emarie to open. A package that was packed with love from a very sweet Ch18 family in Michigan, the Bowen family. I teared up just when I saw the size of the box sitting in front of our door. And more tears came when I opened it first to prepare it for Em to see. Sweet notes and pictures adorned the top of the box, and what was inside was way more than we could imagine. Thank you Bowen family from the bottom of our hearts. You are such an amazing family and we consider ourselves lucky to consider you friends.... actually family, because we're all in this roller coaster together :) And even though we haven't met you, we feel like we know you as well as family and can't wait for the day when we will actually meet!

 Looking at the pictures of the adorable Bowen kids

 Here's a small portion of what they sent which included some clothes that their daughter has outgrown, they are all absolutely adorable! 

And the last item we opened.... Em's face says it all! 

Our card seemed a little less impressive after all this, but we gave it to her anyway ;)

 "Reading" her card.... I just love how expressive this girl is! 

 The surprise in the card was a gift card to go to Build-A-Bear and to do some other fun things (which we didn't get to, but I'll get to that later)

So, as soon as we were done here, we headed straight for the mall. Our plan was to hit Build-A-Bear at the Orem mall, then head to the Provo mall (don't have a BAB at the Provo mall anymore) to ride the train and carousel.... but thanks to a grandmother that was at BAB with like 10 of her grandchildren getting them all a bear for Christmas and they took forever, we planned to be there 30 minutes or less, which we would have.... but whatever! So since it took almost 2 hours, it was the only thing we got to do :( But, we're planning to do the other stuff when we can (trip then hip surgery, it would probably be a month before we could do it... but well, now the surgery has been postponed of course ((more on that later)), so we may be able to do it sooner than we thought).

 Choosing just the "right" one can be tricky business (see video below for just how well Em did this!)

 Holding her choice of an empty bear and waiting.... waiting.... waiting for her turn to fill it 

 Yup, still waiting..... I should also point out Em's cute shirt that says "One Cute Birthday Girl!" a hand-me-down from Kennya and Kennedy (friends)

The process of filling is in the video below :)

 Choosing the clothes is equally as tricky and important!

 Finally it's ready! I think she's happy :)

Love it!

And later we headed to the Wilde family Christmas Eve party (more of the Christmas celebrations from that in a following post) where her grandpa Mitch and grandma Jen gave her this....

 Yeah, I had the same look as Em.... thanks guys.... that's just what we needed... a Barbie bigger than our daughter ;)

And here's Em at the end of the night with all her birthday loot! The Jingle dog and book, jingle music toy, Rapunzel baby, birthday cake wooden puzzle, socks, Rapunzel gel window clings, Rapunzel purse and Rapunzel pillow and throw (plus all the clothes) were from the Bowen family.... told you it was a lot! Then Steve's mom made her the cutest little rabbit family set, complete with a zip-up carrot holder. And then of course the Barbie ;) Can we say spoiled??

All in all I think she had a great birthday.... what do you think??

Em's birthday celebrations at school

Since Em's birthday is on Christmas Eve, I doubt there will ever be a day she will be at school for the actual day. So we elected to bring a treat and celebrate our girl the day before break (20th). I picked up some store bought (health department policy) festive, frosted sugar cookies.... which Em couldn't eat.... but don't think I'm mean! I wanted something that the kids don't usually have, and unfortunately anything that's dairy, soy and egg free doesn't scream special. But one of Em's friend's from class also has food allergies and believe or not is allergic to more than her, but they can still eat a lot of the same foods, so I got the two of them some very cute Christmas (red and green) marshmallows and suckers, so they both felt pretty special too :) However, Em wanted nothing to do with either of these things, so she got her favorite from the school snacks- Alphabet Cookies.... whatever, it was her celebration after all ;)

 She enjoyed them... that's all that matters ;)

 Her birthday crown, which she wasn't too thrilled about.... until, 

She saw herself in the mirror :)

Someone payed Em a special visit for her birthday......

 What a lucky girl! And I should mention that this is the cute outfit that the Fisher family sent her last year and we're so glad we could make it work one more year! 

Not gonna let that candy cane go for anything! 

It was so fun having her celebrate with her school friends, they're all so cute together!

We had to take a picture of her wearing her crown in front of our tree that evening as well :)

I'm not exactly sure what is going through her mind with that face (she makes faces like this constantly though!), but I like to think it's, "WHAT, NO PRESENTS?!"

Haha, happy birthday Em, sure hope you have another fabulous year! 

What can I say?? Utahns like weddings!

*Play the song, Sail Away (probably only one of my most favoritist songs ever!) with this post

Surprise, surprise.... in Utah, weddings are BIG! 

Followed closely of course, by having babies ;)

But we do love weddings so much, that we're even willing to celebrate them more than once... in other states. But in this case, we're glad they did!

You see, Steve's younger brother Jeff got married recently, you may have seen me mention in it in few other (dozen or so) posts ;) He and his lovely bride Crystal got married on June 25th 2011... but in Seattle! And sadly, we were among the only ones from the immediate family who didn't make it :( Being that it was too close to Em's most recent surgery and we didn't feel comfortable taking her that far away from our beloved Primary, in case there were (heaven forbid) a problem!

So, we were very happy when they decided they would have a reception here as well, which happened on Saturday the 9th of July. Being that everyone in the family is beginning to spread out over the country now, and everyone was going to be here at the same time, it was thought to be a good idea to get some family pictures done.... it had been awhile (click here to see the last Peters' family photo shoot from 2009). Sadly, this had to be the hottest day of the year so far! Hit over 100, and definitely was not pleasant for picture taking :P But we melted through, and thanks to my friend Gabi, we should have some pictures pretty soon :) 

But, here's some candids that Steve captured with our camera in-between posing. Also in the captions are who everyone is (with their relation in the family), because I kinda like to know that when I look at other blogs... so that is why

 Isabel (Steve's sister Kristal's daughter)

Amber (Steve's sister)

The newlyweds (Jeff and Crystal)

 Mike (Steve's brother)... and yeah, we were laughing a lot

Kevin (Steve's sister Amber's husband)

 Cory (Steve's brother)

 No explanation needed here ;)

Ulises (Steve's sister Kristal's husband) and their newest daughter Ariana

 Brian (Steve's brother), who did not care for the heat!

No explanation here either... Steve was just goofing around and we were all hot during this, so laying in the shade was a must. But I hadn't wanted him to take any pictures of me, because I felt so gross, but permitted him this one (I even smiled a little), and was actually surprised with how it turned out, probably one of my most favorite pictures of me ever... and I probably won't be saying that again!

The Reception

Ariana and Rachelle (Steve's youngest sister) asleep... did I mention it was hot that day?

The groom, Jeff (Steve's brother)

The bride, Crystal

So happy together

Mike playing with his nieces (he does this well!)

The three granddaughters in the dresses grandma Peters made for them

Steve's sister Kristal with her beautiful girls (and yes, we now have 2 Kristal/Crystals in the family)

Too funny for words, and no it wasn't on purpose!

Steve and Em

Alisha and Em

Ariana laying in the grass (who everyone at the reception kept mistaking for a doll :)

The 2 cousins only 4 days apart

Isabel being her silly self

Sorry for the picture overload... but it kinda goes with weddings :) So that will be it for now, because the next few posts will be dedicated to our trip to the annual Chromosome 18 Conference, held in Indianapolis this year! I plan on doing a few posts about it, seeing as we'll be stopping a few different places: first Nebraska (only because it's halfway), then St. Louis for a few days to visit Steve's former mission spot and to meet up with another Ch18 family, the Zyducks. Then it will be onto Indy for the actual conference! So, we've got a lot of driving ahead of us! We leave bright and early on Saturday morning around 5 *yuck!* Everyone keep your fingers crossed that I get everything done on time!! Between getting all Em's medications filled and taken care of, packing, showing the house a lot this week, and Steve working late every night this week, I'm going to need a miracle!! ;)